"Wonderful" German, Connie in Utah?, Eagle, Kwigi Injuries, and Fathers

Dear Family,

Hello from the Keller’s! (Sorry for the late letter.) Last month we had so much fun. It was filled with end of school year things like the school fitness fair and Jared’s class program. Jared finished his soccer season and next Tues will start his summer track club. The past 2 mornings he has asked if he can “get his run in” before he does his chores. Ryan says he can’t imagine where he got that from. I’m so proud!

We are less proud of Jared’s German abilities lately. He has decided it would be funny to teach his best friend, Josh, how to say words like butt, poop, fart, etc in German. So now he can enjoy that “wonderful” 7 year old humor in 2 languages.

Our highlight last month was Connie’s surprise visit to UT to go house hunting. And I do mean surprised. She called Thursday night and said “I’m coming to UT tomorrow! Can you get me from the airport??” The timing was perfect. She came in just as Ryan and Jared went to the father/son campout. I didn’t have the lonely weekend I’d anticipated and best of all Connie found a perfect house and in a month or so I will have 1 of my sisters living in UT!!!! And only 2 hours away!!! Hopefully Tammy and her family will be able to move to Vancouver soon and then we can have Thanksgivings together. Yay!! I will have options! Sadly, Ryan says holidays aren’t retroactive and we can’t completely ignore his family once Connie gets here. Oh pooh. ;0)

Connie’s timing also lined up with Jared’s 1st ever piano recital. He did excellent. He played Big, Black Cat and Skipping Frogs. Oma and Opa Keller were able to come to the recital and Leslie came too so Connie got to chat with Ryan’s parents and finally got to meet Jared’s birthmother. To top off the recital Connie’s friend Chrissy, who works at the zoo, was out with a golden eagle at an Eagle Court of Honor. She offered to stop by our house on her way back and let us all see the bird and get pictures with it. It’s really neat having an eagle walking around in your front yard. (Uncle John, you have got to meet Connie’s friend!) We attracted a lot of neighbors and learned a lot about eagles. Because Steve (of Emily and Steve) had brought a bird by once I knew on hot days it would be nice to have the hose out to help cool off the bird. So thanks, Steve, for making me look very smart. Having the eagle here reminded me visiting Emily and Steve and their falcon and now I wish they would move back to UT too. Can’t I have everyone???

For Mother’s Day Jared and Ryan took me to Real Salt Lake game, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. RSL won (woo hoo!) and Jared thought the best part of the game was the RSL fight song which we sang loud and proud after each goal. We also went out to eat and I got the usual flowers and pampering in Mother’s Day. We’re not sure exactly how and when it happened, but we’ve realized that birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day have all been weekend-long celebrations in our family. The ceremonies begin on Friday when Ryan gets home from work and go on until we go to bed Sunday night.

Today is Father’s Day and Jared and I had quite the weekend planned for Ryan/Dad. We took him out to eat at his favorite restaurant Friday night (Crown Burger, I don’t count it as a real restaurant but it’s Ryan’s humble favorite). Then Saturday our plan was take Ryan mini-golfing followed by a trip to Bountiful to visit his dad (and mom). And today is Father’s Day, the day he gets to open his present. Things have not gone according to plan and this Father’s Day has fallen short of our usual standard.

Things got off to a great start Friday night with dinner at Crown Burger. Ryan ordered his usual: a bacon cheeseburger combo. Then Saturday morning while running 9 miles with my half marathon group Kwigi got hit by a cyclist (I had Kwigi off his leash) and broke 2 bones in his front, left leg. Because it was our last long run before the goal race we had decided to run in Provo Canyon. Ryan had to come get us and we spent most of the day in and out of the vet’s. Kwigi is home with a cast now (which he will have to wear for 4 weeks at least).

The present we got Ryan is a Star Wars game for the Wii called Lightsaber Duels and we even found the matching Wii lightsabers for only $10! Guess what broke earlier this week. The Wii. I’m not usually a very emotional person. When a crisis happens I tend to go into crisis mode or Mom mode until everything is fine and if I’m going to fall apart, it’s going to be after the crisis has been taken care of. As we left the vet to go back to Orem to get Ryan’s car (while we left Kwigi at the vet to have his bones set) I started crying. “I’ve ruined Father’s Day! We aren’t going to have time to go golfing and you can’t even use your present tomorrow!!” Waaaaahhhh!!

Ryan says he still had a good Father’s Day. We didn’t get to go mini-golfing, but we did get to visit his folks which was a lot more fun. He got to sleep in today, Jared and I made him breakfast (Jared can make toast now, an accomplishment he’s so proud of that he offers to make us toast all the time), and Ryan got what he wanted more than anything else: a long Sunday nap after church. : )

I love watching Ryan be a father. He takes such good care of his family. And your know your son thinks his father is so wonderful and that he tells all his friends stories about him when your son refers to dad as “my dad” when talking to you. After the father/son campout Jared talked about it all week. And every time he told me about something they did he said “………..and my dad……..” It wasn’t, “……..and dad did such and such.” No. It’s been “……my dad……..” Ryan reminds me of Grandpa Barrus. Everyone talks about how you “marry” your mom or dad when you get married. I take great pride in being able to say I “married” my Grandpa. One of the speakers at church today said, “A righteous father is a blessing to generations.” I thought of Grandpa Barrus and I thought of Ryan. And I looked at Jared leaning against Ryan with their suits and I knew Jared’s already learning how to be a dad and he doesn’t even know it yet.

Love,
Sherry, Ryan, Jared, and Kwigi